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Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Being young is all about the experiences: the first time you skip school, the first time you fall in love…the first time someone holds a gun to your head.

After being held hostage during a robbery at the local convenience store, seventeen year old Edie finds her attitude about life shattered. Unwilling to put up with the snobbery and bullying at her private school, she enrolls at the local public high school, crossing paths with John. The boy who risked his life to save hers.

While Edie’s beginning to run wild, however, John’s just starting to settle down. After years of partying and dealing drugs with his older brother, he’s going straight—getting to class on time, and thinking about the future.

An unlikely bond grows between the two as John keeps Edie out of trouble and helps her broaden her horizons. But when he helps her out with another first—losing her virginity—their friendship gets complicated.

Meanwhile, Edie and John are pulled back into the dangerous world they narrowly escaped. They were lucky to survive the first time, but this time they have more to lose—each other.

“You were going to give it up to Duncan Dickerson?” he sneered. “Are you serious?”

I halted, staring at him. This was not good. “How do you know about that?”

“Anders overheard you and Hang talking.”

“Bastard.”

“Well?” he demanded, acting all authoritarian. Idiot.

“To be fair, I didn’t know his last name was Dickerson,” I said. “That’s unfortunate. Though, I wasn’t actually planning on marrying him, so . . .”

“Not funny.”

I shrugged.

“You barely know the guy.”

“Um, yeah. None of your concern. We’re not talking about this.” How mortifying! My face burned bright. People should just gather around and cook s’mores. “I appreciate that we’re friends. You mean a lot to me. But this is going to have to fall under definitely none of your damn business, so go away please.”

“We’re talking about it.” He advanced a step.

“No we are not.” And I retreated.

“You were going to let a complete stranger touch you.” Advance.

Retreat. “People do it all the time. You do it all the time.”

“But you don’t,” he said, taking the final step, backing me up against the side of his car and getting all in my face. “Edie, this is your first time we’re talking about. Isn’t it?”

“Yes, and it’s going to be messy and painful and probably horribly embarrassing and I just want it over and done with.” I tried to meet his eyes but failed, settling for a spot on his right shoulder. “You’re not a girl; you wouldn’t understand. Also, last time I checked, you’re not the gatekeeper of my hymen, John Cole. So back the fuck off.”

He said nothing.

Deep, calming breaths. “Look, someday I’ll meet someone I really like and we’ll have a deep and meaningful relationship and go at it like bunnies. But I don’t want to be the dumb virgin in that scenario.”

He slowly shook his head.

“Also, I do not want to die a virgin.”

“What? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Hey, you and I both know death can occur at any time.”

“This is crazy.”

“I’m seeing a therapist!” I told his shoulder. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m a little bit messed up these days. It’s hard for me to trust people. That’s not going to change anytime soon.”

He screwed up his face at me. “Wha—”

“I’m just trying to be practical.”

“Well, you’re being ridiculous. None of this makes sense.”

“It does to me.”

Again, he said nothing.

In fact, he said nothing for so long that I finally looked him in the eye. The anger had left him, replaced by an emotion I didn’t recognize. Worst of all, he still smelled like summer. A little sweat and the open night air, everything I loved. Liked. I meant liked.

“What?” I said, finally.

He let loose a breath. “I’ll do it.”

Kylie is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. She was voted Australian Romance Writer of the year, 2013 & 2014, by the Australian Romance Writer’s Association and her books have been translated into eleven different languages. She is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet. You can learn more about Kylie from http://www.kylie-scott.com/FACEBOOK | TWITTER | FACEBOOK FAN GROUP | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS | NEWSLETTER

REVIEW

I'm one of those odd, rare creatures who hasn't devoured Kylie Scott's entire backlist. I had only read one book by her, but when I saw that she was experimenting in the YA genre, my curiosity was piqued. And that synopsis? Forget about it, I was sold at the get go.

What do you do when your life abruptly narrows down to a moment, when your next breath could be your last? A simple late night convenience store run for junk food turns into a life altering, senseless tragedy. In those terror filled moments, she discovered with crystal clarity how fragile life could be.

Death was a stone, dragging me deep. Life had been so much simpler and easier before all of this . I’d been immortal, but tomorrow didn’t exist. It was all now, here, today. Until Chris and his gun destroyed everything.

How do you come back from the trauma of seeing innocent people die right before your eyes at seventeen years old? How do you go back to the person whose biggest problem was dealing with bullying by mean girls for your weight? The answer? You can't. Returning to her private school after summer ended, she realized that she wouldn't sit back quietly and allow the daily abuse that was served to her. Their opinions suddenly seemed inconsequential and she wasn't affording them any more headspace. In fact, she was done with the snobby, privileged kids at her school so she insisted on moving to the public school.

She thought she wouldn't know a soul there, but to her shock, one of her new classmates was none other than John Cole. The boy who risked his life to save hers. Edie had nothing in common with him, and didn't expect him to acknowledge her presence despite their violent meeting. He was at the top of the school popularity stratum, and a bad boy who could get any girl he crooked his finger at.

All we had in common was a night of blood and violence. End of story.

But she underestimated the bond that was forged that night at the Drop Shop. He did seek her out, because she was the only one who could understand what he had been going through. And while John was inspired to give up selling drugs and try to improve himself, Edie was becoming the rule breaker.

As much as I enjoyed these two, I think having John's POV would have been a huge help in feeling more invested in their romance. I liked them together enough, I just didn't love them. I felt like there was something missing for me. The beginning of the book drew me in with that very intense scene, and then the middle seemed to to drag more than I would have liked. I needed more push to keep the momentum of the story moving forward faster. The last scene had another exciting climactic moment that I really loved, but unfortunately it ended in an abrupt manner followed by a bland epilogue. The entire conclusion seemed more like an afterthought rather than a significant conclusion to their conflicts.

Based on everyone else's excitement, this is most likely entirely a me thing. Don't let my personal issues prevent you from giving this one a go. Trust was an original story about two teens trying to make sense of their lives after surviving a life or death situation together. I'd recommend this to not just YA lovers, but those looking for something much different than what's out there.